The 26-year-old suspect is being held without bail. Police said he had no connection to the university, but was apparently planning to kill as many people as he could before killing himself.

Gun control is a fiercely divisive issue in the United States, where the right to bear arms is enshrined in the constitution, alongside such basic rights as free speech and freedom of religion.

President Barack Obama's plan for broader background checks on gun purchases, along with proposals for a ban on military-style assault rifles and limits on ammunition capacity, failed last year in Congress.

This was despite the December 2012 killings of 20 children and six adults at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, that shocked the nation.

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It's hard to imagine how parents of the students must have been feeling when they heard about the shooting.

Jessie Infante was at home when he received two texts from daughter Jamie.